REGISTERING EARLY ALLOWS YOU TO…

Request a prime location for maximum exposure of your business! We try to accommodate all booth location preferences, honoring requests based in order of registration. Restaurant/Caterer’s Booth with a hotel room “attached” is available– First Come First Serve!

Confirm your tickets to Taste! As a participant you will be given three tickets for staffing your booth. Plus, up to two additional tickets can be purchased at half price ($47.50 ea).

Reserve your judging category!A maximum of 20 entries will be allowed in any given category in the judging competition. Lock your category reservation in today! (No advance notice of your dish is required.)

For more info contact Lilli at 340.719.7777 or via email at atasteofstcroix@yahoo.com.

‘A TASTE OF ST. CROIX’ COMMITTEE, in partnership with INNOVATIVE, is pleased to announce the presentation of $2000 in awards to three St. Croix schools to help nurture student interest in the culinary industry. Four awards were presented to three schools as a prize for the final members of the 2014 St. Croix Culinary Juniors, one of A Taste of St. Croix Inc.’s current 365 Projects.

Each member of the St. Croix Culinary Juniors earned a $500 award that will serve to enhance their school’s cooking club, home economics class, and/or after-school program that emphasizes the skills necessary in the hospitality industry. Recipients included: on behalf of Daralin Acevedo, Elena Christian Junior High School, Sevon Washington of St. Patrick’s School, and Jade Bryan and Rider Odom for Good Hope Country Day School.

The St. Croix Culinary Juniors is a team of four 7th and 8th graders who each wrote and submitted original recipes that were tested by Gary Klinefelter, the Executive Chef at The Buccaneer, in round one of a selection process for the team. In round two, they competed in a Kids “Top Chef” Cook Off in which they successfully passed blind identiﬁcations, answered cooking trivia questions, and then created a dish using local produce, spices, honey, and coconut oil. With training from Chef Gary, the Culinary Juniors helped build the menu for a Cork & Fork, an elite private dinner held at Estate Belvedere at the 2014 St. Croix Food and Wine Experience.

A Taste of St. Croix again will be recruiting 7th and 8th graders for new members of the 2015 team. For 2015, young people will again complete two rounds of a selection process, with the first requiring students to submit a recipe and the second a fun showcase of finalists’ talents at a mini Kids Iron Chef Cook Off at the Agricultural Fair. The team will then go on to mentor with executive chefs and participate in a Cork & Fork Dinner Event at the St. Croix Food & Wine Experience. Students interested in applying may visit: tasteofstcroix.com for the rules and entry form.

As a nonprofit organization, A Taste of St. CroiX, Inc.’s mission is to showcase the talent and potential of St. Croix’s hospitality industry through their 365 Projects, which foster partnerships, sponsor training and industry events, and build public awareness of the critical role that the service-industry fills in improving the socioeconomic future of St. Croix. Katherine Pugliese, co-founder of the Taste stated that, “With the recent attention of St. Croix’s internationally recognized culinary industry, A Taste of St. Croix believes it is more vital than ever that our community encourage the talent and interest young people have at an early age.” The St. Croix Culinary Juniors is a part of a growing vocational pipeline for young people interested in pursuing a career in the culinary industry that complements the work of its partners, the St. Croix Foundation, Innovative and the Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) and others.

The St. Croix Culinary Juniors is A Taste of St. Croix’s newest 365 Project and is sponsored by Innovative Communications.

Top U.S. chefs will converge on St. Croix next month for a week of dinners, wine tastings, lectures and book signings, climaxing with St. Croix’s best chefs and cooks competing at the annual Taste of St. Croix at Divi Carina Bay Resort on April 10. VIP tickets are on sale online now, according to The St. Croix Foundation, which coordinates the gala fundraiser.

Regular tickets for Taste of St. Croix go on sale Saturday at 10 a.m. on St. Croix at Innovative Business Center and on St. Thomas at Urban Threadz. Any remaining Taste of St. Croix tickets not sold at the two outlets above will be on sale online around mid-day Saturday.

This is the 14th annual Taste of St. Croix, an annual benefit for the St. Croix Foundation that attracts upwards of 2,000 food fanciers out to mingle and taste the artistry of more than 50 competing restaurants, caterers, amateur and semi-pro cooks, and chefs of every description.

The Taste of St. Croix, which the Forbes Magazine online travel site, Forbestravel.com, has named one of the 10 best food events in the world, has blossomed into a weeklong slate of food events raising money for charitable work and career culinary training and education called the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience. And it is now the third biggest annual event on St. Croix, after the Crucian Christmas Festival and the V.I. Agrifest, according to St. Croix Foundation President Roger Dewey. The Experience begins April 6 with “Cuisine on the Green,” a tournament held at the Carambola Golf Club with tasty bites and drinks at every tee. Non-golfers are invited to tour the tastings via a golf cart.

On April 8, there will be a gourmet vintner dinner at Tutto Bene Restaurant. This year it features chef Sam Choy and vintner Christina Turley.

On April 9, chef Todd Gray hosts “Chefs Move to Schools” at UVI. Chefs across the country are answering First Lady Michelle Obama’s call to get involved with their local schools as part of the Chefs Move to Schools initiative. Gray will discuss his work in the District of Columbia with the Murch School and how the same program can be done in the territory. This free talk will be in the UVI Great Hall at noon.

Also April 9, chefs will compete in “Food Fight!” on the beach by Eat@Cane Bay. As one of the most popular and exciting events of the week, Food Fight! has celebrity and island chefs teaming together to compete in a series of challenges that takes place right on the beach.

April 10 is the event that started it all: “A Taste of St. Croix.” Held at Divi Carina Bay Resort, approximately 2,000 participants and guests sample the expertise of 55 restaurants, chefs, farms and caterers. Visiting celebrity chefs, winemakers, rum distilleries and breweries also offer samples of their best creations. As the only islandwide culinary competition of its kind, Taste of St. Croix also offers a thread of excitement throughout the night as restaurants are judged by renowned chefs and await the final results.

April 11 will see a “Sunset BBQ” on Frederiksted Beach where celebrity chefs share their grilling talents with local culinary students. Held in historic Frederiksted overlooking the water, residents can meet and mingle with celebrity chefs and enjoy unparalleled views as they dine and dance under the stars.

On April 12 at 10:30 a.m. at Pearl B. Larsen Elementary School, there will be a “Kids Cooking” demonstration. This youth event ignites excitement about cooking with little chefs learning to make simple, fun recipes under the instruction of both celebrity and local chefs.

For the adults that evening there is “Wine in the Warehouse,” a wine tasting with winemakers, cocktail samplings, small bites and music in the Leeward Islands Warehouse. Check for ticket availability online.